Within the food industry it is well-known that a trimming of meat products is performed in connection with the meat processing.
When a meat product is trimmed the fat is removed from it and the result is                (a) a primary cut and        (b) some fat and trim products.        
The “fat” product is essentially fat only whereas “trim” product is any combination of fat and meat. Trim is the result when for example the operator during the process of cutting off the fat is cutting a little too deep and removes some meat together with the fat, e.g. for example when a first cut removes some of the fat, but reveals that more fat needs to be removed, which requires a second cut, which in many cases inevitably results in that some meat is cut off as well.
It is noted that during the meat processing also secondary cuts are produced as well as other small pieces of meat.
For the purpose of this patent application the pieces of fat/meat produced by the trimming process, secondary cuts and any other pieces of meat that are not primary cuts will be referred to as “trim”, “trim products”, etc. This also means that the term “collection of trim (COT)” used later on and in the claims also designates a collection of pieces, where the pieces can be what is traditionally referred to as trim or trim products, but where the collection also includes pieces such as secondary cuts, other pieces of meat that is not primary cuts, etc.
The trim is normally classified in categories according to the meat content in percentage. In general it is assessed on line by the operator and the trim is sorted correspondingly. Most often the trim products are sorted in only a limited number of groups, for example 1 to 4 groups. The fat products are handled separately.
The trim products can be used for a plurality of various purposes, e.g. mince meat, etc., which requires a further processing of the trim products.
When the trim is used in the further processing it is desirable and in most cases necessary to know the fat percentage to a higher degree of accuracy than obtained by the manual assessment. In many cases it is even necessary to adjust the fat percentage to a specified number in order to use the product for various purposes and applications.
WO 2009/102457 A1 discloses methods and systems for sorting meat trim portions by employing quantitative lean point analysis and one or more sorting steps. The document discloses embodiments adapted to make lean point determinations, to compare the determinations to one or more sorting parameters, and to direct meat trim portions to one of a plurality of containers based on the comparison. Meat trim portions from each container are subsequently processed into ground meat. Portions of meat trim, which are obtained from one or more fabrication tables, are identified by one or more of meat trim type, e.g. chick, shank, sirloin, and information associated with lean point (estimated lean point, for example). Portions of meat trim are then preferably presorted into a plurality of containers and the lean point of portions of meat trim originating from a particular presorting container is determined using a lean point analysis system by means of for example X-ray analysis. After performing lean point analysis, the meat trim portions are then sorted into a plurality of combination bins, based on one or both of the determined lean point analysis and a previously identified meat type, identified in connection with the presorting.
WO 03/046533 A2 relates to an apparatus and a process for determining the relative proportions by mass of two or more differing substances contained in a sample comprising a combination of the two or more differing substances, where the sample comprises animal flesh and where the differing substances contained in the sample comprise, respectively, meat and fat. The apparatus and a process utilize an X-ray radiation technique for calculating the relative proportions by mass of the two or more differing substances, which may be meat and fat. According to a particular embodiment the proportions of meat and fat have been determined for each of a plurality of sample pieces of meat and have been fed to a computer. The sample pieces of meat are transported by a conveyor belt to a series of mechanisms for displacing the samples into a series of grading bins, where the aim of the system is to end up with as close to a target fat/lean ratio as possible in each of the bins.
Thus, the prior art according to WO 03/046533 A2 concerns the handling of sample pieces of meat, whereas the present invention is related to the processing of trim products that are produced in connection with meat processing in general as explained above, and in particular to the processing of collections of trims (COTs) that are being produced in connection with the meat processing.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to present a method and a system for handling trim products resulting from the meat processing.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to present a method and a system, which provides a higher degree of accuracy as regards the fat percentage categorization of the trim products, i.e. the fat/meat relationship.
Further, it is an object of the invention to present such a method and such a system, which facilitates a higher degree of automated handling of the trim products.
Thus, it is also an object to provide batches of trim products, which facilitate an improved quality of the end products.
These and other objects are achieved by the invention as explained in further detail in the following.